Familiar Stranger
by angelcorrupted
Summary: “I left you, you idiot! I left you without a goodbye! I didn't take you with me, and I left you to suffer at that institution! After everything we'd gone through together, I left you without goodbye!” MattxMello, read and review.


If I owned Death Note, L, Matt, and Mello would still be alive. Are they? I didn't think so, therefore Death Note is not mine. D

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The left side of my face felt like the flames were still lapping at it, much like a dog that was completely and utterly parched and had just found a giant pool of ice water. I could still smell the smoke in my nose, the smell of some of my flesh burning as my face became the victim to the heat that forced itself onto me. The temptation of wanting to touch my face was near impossible to resist. I wanted to see if there was actually any skin left to touch. It almost made me get down from the top of the slide I was sitting on and go to the nearest mirror to survey the damage.

I wouldn't, though. I knew that. It would hurt to touch, and it would send me into a panic attack if I saw my possibly still burning flesh. Knowing that extremely perfect facial features were now gone would make any person go insane, wouldn't it?

A sigh fell from my lips as I stared blankly across the empty park I was in. Why had I even chosen this park? I knew I wasn't masochistic... and the memories here pained me to think about even when I wasn't on the verge of falling into insanity. I was even sitting on the slide in which held the most painful memories for me. What the hell was I doing here?

I heard the crunching of footsteps on the mulch behind me, but I didn't bother to turn around; it hurt too much to speak or to breathe, let alone actually shift. It was probably just some snot-nosed little kid, wandering away from their parents' house because they wanted to be rebellious.

That was when I felt two hands on my back push me.

The next thing I was aware of, I was sliding down the slide involuntarily, not having moved myself willingly. After a few seconds, I landed face first in the mulch, the entire left side of my face searing with pain, making me bite my lip to hold back a whimper, or a scream more than likely. I believe I bit it so hard, I could taste blood. Not the most comforting thing in the entire world.

When I turned around with my eyes narrowed, ready to tell the idiot who pushed me to go fuck themselves and other nasty comments, my brain fizzled. I did not expect to see who I saw, grinning at me from the top of the slide.

"What are you doing here?" my voice quivered a bit, making the other boy chuckle without humor.

"I live in that apartment building over there," he replied, lazily pointing to a building beside the park. I narrowed my eyes, though I couldn't ignore the harsh thumping of my heart in my chest.

"What the _fuck_ happened to _you_?!" the other asked, louder than he needed to and with a large amount of genuine concern. I didn't need to ask what he was talking about, and I held back a wince.

A roll of my eyes and an odd, but somehow cold, laugh should have told him everything, but he looked at me with a confused expression. "I came face to face with the Japanese Task Force at my Mafia Headquarters. This old guy had a Death Note, Kira's murder weapon, and the Shinigami eyes," I started, obvious irritation in my voice. The other male's expression still read confusion, which made my eyes roll again. "I'll explain about those things later. Anyway, he learned my name, and threatened to write my name down, which would kill me. Then I blew the place up and here I am, skipping and prancing around picking daisies and making hot chocolate."

Surprise flickered across his face while I stared at him unemotionally, though the pounding of my heart was getting faster. He slid down the slide to become face to face with me, since I was sitting rather comfortably on the ground and I would refuse to get up if he asked me to.

"Honestly, my little Mellsie. You look awful. Actually, kind of pitiful. It's different. And a little scary."

I ignored the jab, but I couldn't help when eyes snapped up to his eyes, the green color of them distorted by the orange tint of his goggles, when I heard the nickname he used out of pure affection, however much of a girl it made me appear to be. He noticed when the surprise flickered across my face.

"What?" he sounded genuinely confused, which made my heard hurt.

"Matt, why aren't you mad at me?"

"Should I be?"

God, he sounded so clueless!

"Yes you should! You should be screaming at me and telling me how awful I am, calling me horrible names and making me feel sorry for what I did!"

"I don't care if you blew up your Mafia base, Mello. That hardly affects me in the slightest."

Without thinking, my hand went up to my forehead, smacking it as his clueless words infuriated me. However, that was a mistake to do. I winced, a whimper getting passed my lips at the pain.

"I left you, you idiot! I left you without a goodbye! I didn't take you with me, and I left you to suffer at that institution! After everything we'd gone through together, I left you without goodbye!"

Comprehension flickered across his face as I breathed somewhat heavily, a new pain coursing through my veins. I'd always tried to block those things from my head, and speaking them to Matt just made it worse.

"Oh, yeah. That. Well, I can't be mad at you for that. You know why?" He didn't wait for an answer before he continued on, "I trained myself to block those painful things from my mind, and only remember and relive the good times. That's what kept me sane, Mello. Remembering your happy, smiling face, your touch, the way you walked, your scent... everything like that got me through the day." He blinked when he was done, running a gloved hand through his already disheveled red hair.

Even _Matt_ was calmer than me! He never was on the verge of insanity when I separated us; the complete opposite of me. Was I the only goddamn brilliant person who got angry or emotional in the slightest?!

"You know," his voice startled me from my angry ranting inside my head, "this is the same slide we first kissed on, remember my little Mellsie? Where we both said 'I love you', and this was the last place we spent together before you left." He sighed, and I raised an eyebrow at him. Matt was not one to be sentimental like this. He was almost as badass as me.

"The real thing is better than memories." the redhead's voice said huskily, a small and seductive smile appearing on his lips. I returned the same coy look, and grabbed his hand, pulling him into my lap.

The next thing I knew, our lips were crushed together, one of his leather-gloved hands tangled in my hair, both of my hands at the small of his back. I felt his tongue lick my bottom lip, and I opened my mouth willingly. In a matter of seconds, there was a fight for who was dominant inside my mouth, one in which I was determined to win. It didn't take long for me to pin Matt's tongue down, much to his disliking.

After a few moments, we both pulled away, panting slightly.

"Hey, Mello?"

"Yeah?"

"I've got extra room in my apartment, if you want to sleep inside a building."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

For what seemed like the longest time, there was a silence that consisted of Matt's eyes staring into mine, a smile in place on both of our lips. I was using one thumb to rub an area of skin underneath his black and white striped shirt on his back, and he had his arms lazily draped over my shoulders and around my neck, his fingers playing with the ends of my hair. We didn't mind the silence though, but I felt the need to say something.

"Matt..."

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry."

"You were forgiven many years ago, Mellsie," he replied, grinning, and placing his lips at the base of my throat, kissing, licking, and sucking gently.

"Mello?" he whispered against my skin.

"Yeah?

"I love you."

"I love you too Matt, and I never stopped, even when I left you."

"Stop bringing that up. The past is the past." he murmured, and I could feel his lips vibrate because of his speaking against my throat. I bit my lip again, to keep sound from emitting from my mouth, but I couldn't stop the shiver from running up and down my spine.

After a few moments, his head lifted up so he could look at me.

"Let's go to my house, yes?"

"Sounds good, Matt."

Neither of us made any preparation to move, though. We just kept staring and smiling like foolish idiots in the mulch of a public park.

"I just realized, I never got a nickname."

"Uhhh.. you actually want one?"

"Yeah. I'm surprised you actually care for 'Mellsie.'"

"You gave it to me, that's why."

"Regardless of that," he smiled, pausing before he continued, "You. Think up nickname. Now mister."

Okay, so I snickered at that, but then the atmosphere turned serious once more.. or at least as serious as it could possibly be, considering we were discussing _affectionate nicknames_. I was starting to feel more like an uke than the semme though.

"I really just prefer calling you my darling Matty. Unless you want something like Mattsie the Mattster or something." The redhead in my arms grimaced at me, and nodded. "My darling Matty is good. Now can we go to my apartment? I have something I need to... show you. Plus, I'd better get your face bandaged up."

I'd almost completely forgotten about the pain on my left, and I nodded gratefully.

Matt climbed off of me, allowing myself to stand up. There was no awkward silence as we both walked to the complex; we were both comfortable with silence. We didn't need words if we were together, we were well aware of that.

A familiar stranger stumbled upon me because of my masochistic decisions, but now that I think about it, was it really a masochistic decision in the first place?

No.. No it wasn't. Not even in the slightest.

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A/N; Eh. I'm not too sure about this one. Something irritates me, but I dunno what it is. Ah, well, read and review, loverlies!


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